After Johnny Dixon has a run-in with school bully Eddie Tompke, Gramma Dixon helps treat Johnny's cut finger:
"As Gramma fussed over him she went on about the Tompkes and their relations, the Tadmans and the Sweets and the Schemanskes. Gramma was like that. She had lived in Duston Heights all her life, and she knew everything about everybody." - The Cure of the Blue Figurine (1983)
It's interesting to hear about the Tompkes and the Tadmans, especially taking into account an event occurring 80 years ago today:
Marshall Evening Chronicle
Marshall, Michigan
Friday, Nov. 22, 1935 (p. 5)
St. Mary's chapel was the scene of a quiet wedding this morning at 8:00 o'clock when Helen Tadman, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Howard Tadman, and James Monk son of Mr. and Mrs. John Monk of Chicago, were united by the Rev. Fr. Leo W. Renkes. The attendants were Miss Marian Tadman and Wayne Tadman, sister and brother of the bride, and Mrs. Frank Bellairs sister of the groom. Following the ceremony a delicious three course breakfast was served at the home of the bride.
The groom, James Monk, was John’s uncle (brother to his mother), and this is another example of Bellairs using family names in his writings. Both James (1914–2011) and Helen (1915-2014) died in recent years.
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